Now a days, the idea of paying for a game demo would seem crazy to most. Well, not to Crytek, the guys behind Crysis 2, who predict that game developers will eventually begin charging for their demos.

According to Crytek’s co-founder Cevat Yerli:

“A free demo is a luxury we have in the game industry that we don’t have in other industries such as film. Because we’ve had this free luxury for so long, now there are plans to change this people are complaining about it. The reality is that we might not see any free game demos in the long term.”

I don’t know about you guys but I doubt I’d ever pay for a game demo. What about you?

via cvg

The first DLC for Sony’s cinematic hit Heavy Rain, which was part movie, part game, part a lot of stuff (all on the good side), centers around the The Taxidermist, and it plays and feels a bit different. For one, the voice actor is different, since the episode was made before the final voice actor was cast for the part of Madison. Other differences include a lot more tense gameplay, and also features a whopping six different endings.

The $5 priced DLC can be completed in 15 minutes and the different endings will make you re-play the game a few times, but since the endings have no further affect on the original game, their effect kinda wears off after your second play-through. The story centers around Madison, who tracks down the origami killer to his hideout, and the result of that can vary. The atmosphere at the hideout (house) is pretty tense, as you’ll be exploring it, probing the dark areas wiht your flashlight, not knowing what might happen next. In fact, it’s some of the most atmospheric and suspenseful moments of Heavy Rain, and it would have been great if something similar was in the original game.

Things change when the Taxonomist returns home and finds you probing his house. The player then has a choice of running, hiding or standing up to a fight, and these choices are pretty good and offer some variety, however, some of the outcomes are less than satisfactory. Overall, the first DLC and episode of Heavy Rain is a pretty solid job, and while it’s short, it does offer a few different endings and won’t break your bank (at $5). Fans of the game will find some satisfaction, however, we expected more than 15 minutes on a singel play-through.

The Good:
Atmospheric and suspenseful gameplay
Several endings provide replay value

The Bad:
Too short.
Different voice actor is used
Feels to short/shallow

Overall score: 7/10

It seems that Epic Games is taking the same route with as Bungie did with the Halo franchise.

When I say that, I mean that they are saying Gears of War 3 will be the end of the current story arc. No, this doesn’t mean the franchise will be over it just means that there will be something like Gears of War: Reach or whatever Epic decides to call it.

via videogamer

Amazon.com is holding a deal today that has NCSoft MMOs discounted a pretty hefty amount. Below are the discounts, courtesy of Massively:

I can’t say I was ever a fan of City of Heroes but Guild Wars is a great game especially since you don’t need to pay monthly for it.

While Street Fighter IV for the iPhone stays pretty true to its console counterpart one of the things that it is missing (other than physical controls) is all of the characters.

Well, that gap is going to get a bit smaller as Capcom has just announced that Cammy will be getting put into the game thanks to a  free future update.

via destructoid

Yesterday we told you that Crysis 2 would be slightly more powerful on the PS3 than the Xbox 360, but what about the PC? Well, Crytek CEO Cervat Yerli has come forth to let us know the PC version of Crysis 2 will be graphically superior to its console counterparts.

This isn’t a surprise considering the raw power some of these gaming PCs have now a days. Of course, unless you have one of these ridiculous gaming PCs, the game is probably goin to

via cvg

Sony is really pushing 3D technology just as they did with Blu-ray. In fact, they want you to buy their new HX803-series  Bravia 3DTV that is going on sale in Europe this June that they are bundling 4 free 3D PS3 games with it.

Those games include WipEout HD, MotorStorm Pacific Rift, Super Stardust HD and PAIN.

Of course, if you don’t want to buy the sure to be high priced TV you can just hop online and snag them from the PSN, for a price.

We told you it was coming and now it has – the Skate 3 demo has officially gone live for both the Xbox 360 and PS3.

There’s not much more that I can say than that, go check it out.

Do you have an extra 30 minutes to kill? If so, you should definitely check out the above video that documents a competition held at the University of Michigan that has participants attempting to build a game based on a given theme in just 48 hours.

Now, this is an awesome competition in itself but its made even cooler because Sid Meier is actually a participant. Sure, his game won’t be an official participant but it’s still cool to see the master at work.

Did you pick up a game this past easter weekend from UK retailer GAME? If so, you may want to check the game’s quality as reports are coming in that the retailer actually sold used games as brand new.

However, fret not as the retailer has admitted that they are wrong and are offering refunds and/or exchanges for anyone who got shafted out of a new game.

via joystiq